Arab countries condemn Israeli airstrike on Rafah camp for displaced people

UPDATES WITH SAUDI ARABIA STATEMENT; CHANGES DECK

By Ibrahim Al-Khazen

CAIRO (AA) - Several Arab countries condemned on Monday the Israeli airstrike on tents housing displaced people in the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, calling it “tragic” and urging the UN Security Council to intervene to end the Israeli military operations in the enclave and Rafah.

At least 35 people were killed and dozens injured as Israel targeted a camp for displaced people and houses in the city on Sunday.

“Egypt condemns in the strongest terms the deliberate Israeli airstrike on tents of displaced people in the Palestinian city of Rafah, which resulted in hundreds of casualties,” the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The statement described the airstrike as “a blatant violation of the provisions of international humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 on the protection of civilians in times of war.”

“This tragic event is a continuation of targeting unarmed civilians,” the statement read, “and reflects a systematic policy aimed at expanding the scope of killing and destruction in Gaza, rendering it uninhabitable.”

It also renewed its call to the “UN Security Council to urgently intervene to ensure an immediate cease-fire in the Palestinian enclave and end military operations in Rafah.”

Jordan also denounced the Israeli attack, saying in a Foreign Ministry statement that this action is “a blatant defiance of the decisions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and a serious violation of international law and international humanitarian law.”

For its part, Kuwait issued a strong condemnation in response to the recent Israeli aggression on Rafah.

The attack is “an unprecedented genocide and blatant war crimes,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, calling on the international community to compel Israel to adhere to relevant international legal resolutions, especially the latest ICJ ruling.

Qatar took the same stance and decried the Israeli assault on the northern city in the Gaza Strip.

“Qatar views this action as a grave violation of international laws and a further exacerbation of the already dire humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory,” the Foreign Ministry expressed in a statement.

It emphasized the urgency of Israeli authorities adhering to the ICJ’s decision, which explicitly calls for an end to military attacks on Rafah.

Saudi Arabia also deplored Israel's devastating attack, with its Foreign Ministry denouncing “the continued massacres by Israeli occupation forces and their ongoing targeting of unarmed civilians in the Gaza Strip.”

It urged the international community to “immediately intervene to stop the Israeli massacres to mitigate the unprecedented humanitarian disaster facing the Palestinian people.”

Israel has killed nearly 36,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which killed around 1,200 people.

The military campaign has turned much of the enclave of 2.3 million people into ruins, leaving most civilians homeless and at risk of famine.

The attack comes despite a ruling by the ICJ that ordered Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul